Program includes beloved works of the masses: an aria from Puccini’s Madame Butterfly, Dvořák’s String Serenade and the Rachmaninov Cello Sonata. You will be returning home after the concert humming your favorite melodies from these timeless masterpieces.

Inspiration may come from the joys of a happy life or from the will of transcending suffering. Often a composer was inspired by a person to write something. When Rachmaninov had lived through a writer's block after the failure of his first symphony, he emerged with his most impassioned music in his second piano concerto, and his only cello sonata, which was written for his friend, cellist Anatoliy Brandukov. The sonata, although beginning in the minor, fills the soul with joy by the end. As for Dvořák, recent marriage, recognition as a composer, and good health all contributed to one of his most flourishing years as a composer when writing the popular String Serenade. 

Giacomo Puccini: Madame Butterfly, Un bel di vedremo

Sergei Rachmaninov: Sonata for G minor for Cello and Piano

i. Lento. Allegro moderato

ii. Allegro scherzando

iii. Andante

iv. Allegro mosso

Antonín Dvořák: String Serenade

i. Moderato

ii. Minuet. Allegro con moto–Trio

iii. Scherzo. Vivace

iv. Larghetto

v. Finale. Allegro vivace

Artists:

Beverly Beheim, Ran Cheng, Elizabeth Dickenson, Hiroko Harada, Eliot Heaton, Edwin Kaplan, Christine Harada Li, Tai Wai Li, Gregory Maytan, Alice Pierce, Nathaniel Pierce, Paul Sharpe, Leo Singer, Zachary Spontak

Questions? Contact:

Erin Kim, Concerts Coordinator

[email protected]